Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line

The Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line is a proposed restoration of passenger train service along some former branches of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The NJ Transit train line would go to Lakehurst, New Jersey in Ocean County, New Jersey.

State and local planners have proposed the branch in order to alleviate car traffic congestion on the U.S. Route 9 corridor that passes through the densely populated counties of Middlesex, Ocean and Monmouth. The line has been indefinitely stalled by current New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The governor's administration has declined to fund the project.^[1]

Alternative alignments

There are three possible alignments. One route would diverge from the current North Jersey Coast Line at Red Bank, and then head southwest. A second alignment would part from the same existing line at Aberdeen, and then head south. A third route would leave the current Northeast Corridor line at Monmouth Junction.^{[1] [2]}

History

The route towards Bridgeton was a path for running the CNJ Blue Comet train to Atlantic City.

Responses to the proposed line

Some Ocean County area residents have pushed for the extension.^[3] On the other hand, other area residents have asked for U.S. Route 9 to be widened.^[4]

Notes

NJ Transit Rail Operations
Hoboken Division	Bergen County Line Main Line Meadowlands Rail Line Montclair-Boonton Line Morris & Essex Lines (Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch) Pascack Valley Line
Newark Division	Atlantic City Line North Jersey Coast Line Northeast Corridor Line Princeton Branch Raritan Valley Line
Connections	Aldene Connection Lehigh Line Connection Kearny Connection Montclair Connection Secaucus Junction Waterfront Connection
Current rolling stock	EMD GP40PH-2 ALP-46 ALP-45DP PL42AC Comet coaches Comet V MultiLevel coaches Arrow multiple units
Proposed lines	Lackawanna Cut-Off Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line Northern Branch Passaic–Bergen Rail Line West Trenton Line
Other topics	Access to the Region's Core Atlantic City Express Service Gateway Project List of stations Historic stations